1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gelatinous fragrance-imparting composition in which a perfume is incorporated as an active ingredient in a gel, in such a manner that the perfume remains stable for a long time.
A gelatinous fragrance-imparting composition comprises, as a gel substrate, a water-soluble macromolecular compound such as carrageenan, agar, an alginate, guaiac gum, locust bean gum, gelatin, casein, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene oxide, a polyacrylate or the like, and a perfume is dispersed and retained in the gel substrate. When water is evaporated from the composition, the perfume is evaporated into the open air together with the evaporated water, whereby to produce an aromatizing effect. In general, such gelatinous fragrance-imparting composition comprises 1.0 to 5.0% by weight of gel substrate, 0.1 to 20.0% by weight of a perfume and 0.1 to 20% by weight of a water-soluble surface active agent, with the balance being essentially water. When a perfume is emulsified and dispersed in such an aqueous gel, the stability of some perfumes is very bad and a change of the fragrance or a generation of a bad smell often occurs during long-time storage. Especially, simple perfumes of the ester and the aldehyde types, such as linalyl acetate, benzyl acetate and cyclamen aldehyde, possess very low stabilities in such compositions. Since these simple perfumes are employed as basic perfume ingredients when blended perfume compositions are prepared, this poor stability results in various limitations on the generation of pleasant smells having special desired characteristics.